January 21st, 2011

After a one-and-a-half hour journey by train from Windeck to Düsseldorf via Cologne, I arrived at about 7 PM at the "Mayersche Buchhandlung", Königsallee 18, in Düsseldorf. It is a huge, four floor bookstore. Taking the escalator I went up to fourth floor. Of course I knew that I was much too early; however, I wanted to take a look around first. The space is nothing special or cosy just 300 red, hard seats and a round stage - actually, it is more like a black, round desk. Then I went to get my ticket. The e-mail that was sent to me said that the tickets were to be at the "Abendkasse" (evening cash-register). OK, but where was it?! Actually, there were no cash registers on the fourth four. So, I went down to floor two and there I asked for my reserved ticket. "You will find it on the ground level," the salesperson told me. Well... Back down to the main floor, again! And... Yes! They had my ticket. So far, so good. At the cash register I noticed a father and his son who were also buying tickets for the event. "...but you will have to get the signature for yourself," the father was saying to his son.

I went back to level four and took my seat.

Two women and an older man, were busy preparing a video projector for the event. I also noticed that some of the seats in the first row were labelled with a reserved sign. The man talked with one of the women, obviously a representative of the "Mayersche Buchhandlung", about the planned course of the event. "First I will... then you will... and then you will say..." and so on. I learned later that the man was from Delius-Klasing, the publishing house that produced the German version of Jessica's book. In the meantime, some more people had taken their seats. One man asked the woman from the bookstore if Jessica would be signing her books and if it was necessary to buy them now. "You can buy one later of course, the cash-register will stay open. Nevertheless, if you want to avoid waiting you should buy it right now," she replied. This was the catchword for me too. So, I went downstairs once more and bought two copies of "Solo mit Pink Lady". The time: 7:14 PM says the printed receipt. Back upstairs again, I decided to take a different seat than the one I had first chosen. In the meantime some more people had taken their seats. Also the moderator of the event, Mr Tim Kröger, came in for a quick chat with the man from the publishing house. Then Mr. Kröger left. Two strange looking fellows took place in my row. I overheard them talking about Jessica - and Laura! "She is in St. Maarten right now...". I would have liked to say "No, she is not", but I was too far away from them. I took a look at my watch: 7:45 PM. 'Obviously, Germany is not too interested in Ms. Watson,' I thought, most seats were still empty by 8:00 PM with 15 minutes left before the opening remarks. I tried too stay calm. At about 8:10 PM the lights were turned down and only the spots for the stage kept shining. Luckily, most seats were now filled.
A group of people entered the room and took place on the reserved seats. I could only recognize one of them: Mrs. Julie Watson, Jessica's mother.

Then the event began. First, the representative of the bookstore took the microphone, explaining about tonight's event. Then the representative of the Delius-Klasing publishing house adressed the audience. He told about Sailing and its popularity in Germany, then of the idea to bring about Jessica's book in German and getting all the necessary licenses etc. He also introduced the host of the event. While he was still talking I noticed a man to my right looking behind himself. I turned my head - THERE SHE WAS! In the dim light I could see Jessica waiting for her appearance call about ten meters behind me. "Please welcome Jessica Watson!" Applause. Jessica and Mr. Kröger walked towards the stage. Jessica walked by very close to my seat. Some people took pictures; there were also at least two professional photographers on the scene. In the very beginning, it seemed that Jessica was not feeling too comfortable. She was looking around in a shy way.
Mr. Kröger then introduced Jessica and what she had succeeded in doing. Jessica shortly addressed the audience and then Mr. Kröger told about the programme for the evening. First they would show a short movie, then Jessica would tell about her tour herself and finally, the audience would be allowed to ask questions to Jessica. Mr. Kröger also had the function of interpreter. He insisted very much on the fact that Jessica did her circumnavigation "in the right manner, around the capes, and NOT sailing the Trade-Winds-Route". He did not say so directly, however it was clear to me that he was talking about Laura. By the way, no one spoke out the name "Laura Dekker" during the event or asked a question about her to Jessica – even though no restrictions had been made.
The movie, about ten minutes long, showed some of the highlights of Jessica's world tour, including the "Welcome Home" scene when she is being hugged by her parents. It is still a very emotional and touching scene, and I had to look at the floor for a moment... Obviously many people in the audience did not know about the pictures of Jessica's arrival in Sydney. Lots of "Ahs" and "Ohs" as the movie showed the 70,000 spectators in Sydney harbour. Did they know Jessica at all?!
After the movie, Jessica narrated about her tour from the very beginning, including the collision with the Chinese freighter (Not good!), to the very end. Mr. Kröger had to do the translations. He also told about his own sailing experiences. Many pictures were shown during Jessica's speech. Of course, I already knew most of them. Halfway through, two persons entered the room and took place on the two remaining reserved seats, an older Lady which I did not know, and a young man. It was no one else but Mike Perham. He took his place in the first row, directly opposite Jessica. As she noticed him she gave him a discreet smile- so quickly it was hardly noticeable! In my opinion, most people did not realize who he was. Nevertheless, Jessica seemed to feel a little more comfortable after his arrival. There were again a lot of "Ahs" and "Ohs" as Jessica told about the knockdowns she experienced in the South Atlantic Ocean. She told about how she could then stand inside the boat "with one foot on the side and with one foot on the cabin's roof". Mr. Kröger translated it incorrectly, telling that Jessica "had walked around on the cabin's roof". He also was very surprised the rig could take it all. Usually, the mast would break off in situations like these. Jessica then told that the hardest leg of her tour was the final one, along the south coast of Australia. She showed a weather chart - there had been many storms at the time. However, she said she really enjoyed her final week at sea. With this final remark from Jessica it was on to the Q & A period.

The audience -me included!- was a little too shy asking questions. Finally, someone asked one about the reasons for the collision with the freight ship. You could notice that Jessica was not feeling too good about this question. "Yes, yes, I had slept too long and the alarm did not go off. There was a huge report written about the collision and they blamed the container ship 50 % and me 50 %."- I actually thought it was a coal-carrier. Well!
The next question was about her friends being jealous at her. Jessica denied that.
Then someone asked where "Ella's Pink Lady" was now, about her state and what would happen with her in the future. Jessica answered that EPL is drydocked at this very moment and that there are plans to exhibit her at a museum. She also said that her general shape is good but that there is very much wear and tear throughout.
Jessica also said that her mother had the hardest part of her adventure because she stayed at home and had no choice but to worry about her. Mr. Kröger (addressing Mrs. Watson): "We could ask mom about it...". Unfortunately there was no reply.
Mr. Kröger also spoke about Jessica's preparations. He said (obviously, he was on board of EPL before the departure) that Jessica had perfectly prepared for her trip. "I went through the boat and I can say, if she was not well prepared, who else would have been prepared," - with the exception that she forgot to take enough spaghetti-sauce with her! He also told about the communication equipment then and now. He said that in past days, you had no possibility to communicate with long distance sailors when they were sailing a long leg. If they reached the next harbour, then you knew they had made it. Otherwise, well, then you would know, too... Laughing from the audience. Mr. Kröger also said that in the South Polar Region it is unnecessary to turn on the position lights because no one will see them since there is no one else but you. Looking at Jessica he said, "down there [in the South Polar Region] the closest thing to you is the satellite above you".
A woman who sat next to Jessica's mother asked a question. Jessica then went into some general facts about her youth, her future etc. Mr. Kröger then jumped in and talked about her schoolwork. Actually, he said, she HAS done some schoolwork, but only to say THAT she had done something about it... Again laughing from the audience. Also his remark about the Prime minister of Australia embarrassed Jessica a little bit (but in a positive way).
Jessica then asked the audience, especially the kids, there were some if there were any further questions. Unfortunately there was none. Mr. Kröger then thanked Jessica and the audience and closed this part of the event. Cheering from the audience! Time: 9:15 PM. Then the representative from the bookstore gave gifts to Jessica and Mr. Kröger. The book signing was to take place on the ground floor. I stood up, putted on my coat and took my two books with me. Before I turned to leave, I could see Jessica giving a hug to Mike.

As I reached the ground level, there was already a big crowd of people waiting for their books to be signed. I think Jessica took the elevator down. Mr. Kröger also signed books and answered questions. I decided to wait a little for the rush on Jessica to be over, so I walked around inside the store. After a while I joined the queue. Jessica's mother stood next to me in a corner of the store chatting with Mike and the older Lady. Mike tried to go to the shop's basement via the escalator but it was switched off. Well, Mr. Perham, if German shops are closed they ARE closed. The signing went a lot faster than I expected. 'Unpack the books!!!' I thought. This was not so easely done and moreover, there was no trash container for the foil. Then the bookstore representative came by asking everyone who would like to have a personalized note by Jessica to write it down on a small sheet of paper. To fight down some of my nervousness, I took a few pictures of Jessica signing and talking to the other people. There were two young men ahead of me. They talked to Jessica telling her that they are sailors, too. Then it was my turn.

"Hello!" Jessica said to me.

"Hello!", I said.

I gave her my book including the sheet of paper with my name written on it.

"Thomas? Like my brother Tom!"

"Oh really? Nice!"

She signed my book and gave it back to me. I tried to pull the other book out of the bag. Unfortunately, it jammed in there. Jessica found it very funny. Then I gave it to her, including this magic little sheet of paper, labelled "to [...] aka 45N73W".

"Unfortunately he could not join the party at New York" I said to Jessica

"[...] aka... ahhhhh the blogger, YES!" she replied.

"He was invited for the party at New York but..."

"... he could not make it, yes."

Jessica signed the book. I took two pictures while she did so. She found this also very funny.

"By the way, we do the translations for Laura Dekker's website", I said to her... Maybe I was talking too fast or not loud enough.

"For who?"

"Laura Dekker."

"Oh! All the best to her!"

She gave the book back to me.

"Thank you!" she said.

"Thank YOU!" I said.

Time: about 9:35 PM. Laura arrived in the Îsles Des Saintes at about the same time...

The next minutes are a little bit unclear in my memory. I remember someone from the bookstore saying goodbye to me as I left the store. I managed to go back to Düsseldorf Central Station. There I found the train to Cologne; I climbed aboard the train back home where I arrived at about 0:25 AM.

What a day. What a GREAT day!


Thomas Weber
Co-founder ZEILMEISJE LAURA DEKKER on Facebook

Pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.163369777043806.29697.100001123550419